Over one year since the revolution, the ancient oasis of Ghadames is exceptionally quiet. "One of Libya's back doors is Ghadames. The main door is from the sea," explains Abdul Salem Shmella, an old-time resident, about the significance of this traditional trade hub, balanced on the borders with Algeria and Tunisia.

The Islamic old town, which marks the boundary of Libya's vast Saharan desert, was built in the seventh century on top of a spring and the ruins of a Roman garrison.

It resembles a beehive. Shielded from heat and sandstorms, the dark and hushed labyrinth of corridors links the traditionally tribal neighbourhoods – each with whitewashed homes, mosques and hierarchies of public space.

An expert on the history of the old town, Ibrahim says its residents were traders who relied on the nomadic Tuareg to guide camel caravans laden with goods.

"In the old days caravans would transport salt as far south as Ghat, Timbuktu and Kano in Nigeria," he says. "They would bring back gold, leather, ostrich feathers and fabric."

Residents moved whole-scale into new housing built on the outskirts. The introduction of paved roads, powerful automobiles and most recently, cheap air travel, came next. In one swoop, the centuries-old tradition and character of desert trade and its routes and rhythms were erased.

Only in the past decade did the country open up. Tourism became the dominant trade in Ghadames, an appointed Unesco heritage site that Libyans call "the pearl of the desert".

On the eve of the revolution, Taher Ibrahim calculates 25,000 visitors passed through a year, but last year's fighting put an end to that. Now it appears tourists will only return once the ongoing local conflict between the Ghadamsi and Tuareg is over.

Ibrahim cuts a lonely figure as he opens his adorned old town home for a day's work of maintenance. A man sleeps off a hot Ramadan summer day on a bench in the relative cool nearby. "Reconciliation is a good idea," he says quietly. "And we need to bring tourism back."